Tornados fall in SAC opener to Lenoir-Rhyne, 3-2

Hickory, N.C. - The Brevard College Tornados volleyball team opened up the 2010 South Atlantic Conference season on the road Tuesday night, traveling to take on host Lenoir-Rhyne University. Led by Kortney Conner and Jamie Atkinson’s nine kills, the Tornados took the Bears to the limit, before falling in five sets, 24-26, 25-13, 25-18, 22-25, 9-15.

Brevard (2-3, 0-1 SAC) was led by the duo of Conner and Atkinson, while Osby added seven kills to the BC attack. Bethany Stevenson added 31 set assists on the game, while Sydney Yeomans led the team with two service aces.

Defensively, Rebecca Schoonover led the team with 16 digs, while Lindsey Rogers and Stevenson recorded 10 apiece. At the net, Atkinson was also the leader for the Tornados with four total blocks, while Osby added three.

Brooke Christenbury led the Bears (4-1, 1-0 SAC) and all hitters with 17 kills in the match, while Chelsea Hill also reached double-digits, connecting on 13 kills. Meredith Lutz led the team with 29 set assists, while Kaitlyn Burton added 25.

Defensively, Marrissa Church led all players with a match-hihg 21 digs, while Lutz completed the double-double with 11. Kayla Morrow added five total blocks in the match.

The first set was tightly contested as the teams tied up the set 11 times in the match. The set was tied at 24 apiece following a kill by LR’s Burton, but Conner followed with a kill to put Brevard up 25-24, before closing out the set with an ace to put BC up 1-0.

In the second set, the Tornados came back to bring the score within one at 10-9 following an LR service error, but the Bears rolled off nine straight points behind three kills by Hill on their way to a 25-13 set victory.

Lenoir-Rhyne jumped ahead early in the third set, going up 21-20 at one point on their way to a 25-18 victory to go up 2-1.

The fourth set also went back and forth as the teams combined for 13 ties and 11 lead changes in the game, before the Tornados took control, following a block by Joy Oswalt and Ashley Wilson to put the score at 21-29. Oswalt added another kills in the set before Osby tied the match up at 2 with a kill off the assist from Stevenson.

In the deciding fifth set, the Tornados came back from a 7-2 deficit, bringing the score back to within 11-8, but the Bears recorded four of the next five points to close out the match.

The Tornados are back in action on Friday, September 10th as they host South Atlantic Conference opponent Tusculum College. First serve in Boshamer Gymnasium between the Tornados and the Pioneers is set for 7 p.m.